If humour really is a barometer for intelligence, and I truly believe it is, you should do yourself a favour and stick to stalking people in EYKIW. Your consistently embarrassing 'jokes' betray your stupidity

My point is not to challenge his rhetorical skills but only to point out that in that clip he speaks in absolutes and with certainty which, I was led to believe in this forum, liberals loathe.

the only thing he said with absolute certainly is that Christians and Christianity, absolutely and certainty, do not have an absolute and certain grasp on truth.

your post and IH's post prove his point beautifully.

the clip i posted was about the famous "Hitch-slap" -- more examples of his fairly deft rhetorical skills. if you'd like nuance and subtlety, you should read the article i posted earlier from Vanity Fair where he talked about his enormous suffering while undergoing chemo.

i agree that the Christmas Story is achingly beautiful, rich in meaning and sublime in it's subversion of what we normally think of as the infinite, the divine, and the almighty.

i much prefer it to the torture porn and bloodlust of Easter.

I never found the Christmas story particulary inspiring. I never found baby gods very interesting. Even with the torture porn and bloodlust of Easter, I found that part a much more psychologically interesting story. Christmas does have some kickass music, though. "O Holy Night" is an exultant cry even to this nonbeliever. But it is also music from my past and from my background, so it may be as much that as anything.

But if he was a god, it was his choice to be born in shit and straw. How is that profound? If anything, it seems a little manipulative

He could have chosen to come in power and glory, showing off for the religious and political authorities of the day. Instead, He came meekly, to the ass-end of a tiny country that no one cared about, born under controversial circumstances to a poor couple that no one cared about, and heralded by angels to shepherds who no one else cared about either.